FilmOn's effort to obtain a compulsory license to transmit television programs on the Web has run into the same roadblock as a similar effort by Aereo -- the Copyright Office is refusing to process FilmOn's application.“We understand FilmOn to be an Internet-based service that retransmits broadcast television programming. In the view of the Copyright Office, such a service falls outside the scope of the [compulsory] license,” Jacqueline Charlesworth, associate register of copyrights, wrote to FilmOn on Wednesday.Charlesworth says the Copyright Office is accepting FilmOn's application on a “provisional” basis, but won't move forward with it at this time.Earlier this month, Charlesworth sent a similar letter to Aereo, which also is applying for cable-system status, which would entitle the company to a compulsory cable license.A coalition of television broadcasters on Thursday submitted the Copyright Office's letter to U.S. District Court Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in Manhattan, who is considering whether to hold FilmOn in contempt of court.FilmOn, like Aereo, enabled users to stream live over-the-air television programs to smartphone sand tablets. The services also offered DVR functionality, allowing people to record programs to watch later.Both companies argued that they were legal due the status, given their technology, which they said relied on dime-size antennas to capture and stream programs to users. But the Supreme Court rejected that argument in a case involving Aereo. The court ruled that Aereo infringed copyright by transmitting shows without a license, regardless of the company's underlying architecture.Buchwald said at a hearing on Tuesday that FilmOn should have stopped transmitting programs as soon as the Supreme Court reversed the pro-Aereo ruling by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. “The day the Supreme Court decided Aereo, you no longer had the cover of the 2nd Circuit's opinion,” Buchwald said at the hearing. “On that day, FilmOn X should have pulled all of the content.”FilmOn, unlike Aereo, was already under a court order prohibiting it from infringing copyright due to an earlier lawsuit. FilmOn says it stopped offering streams of the major broadcasters' programs on July 8.But FilmOn's lawyer, Ryan Baker, argued at the hearing that the company doesn't believe it infringed copyright between the time of the Supreme Court's ruling and the time it stopped offering streams of television shows. Baker says that FilmOn now believes it's entitled to a compulsory license as a cable system.He also told Buchwald at the hearing that FilmOn had applied for a license and was waiting to hear back from the Copyright Office.Buchwald said at the hearing that she was “inclined” to hold FilmOn in contempt, but hasn't yet issued an official decision.
Expanding its native ad strategy, LinkedIn is now giving brands the ability to personalize and test content in the newsfeed without having to originate posts on their LinkedIn Company Page. Dubbed “Direct Sponsored Content,” the service represents an expansion of the company’s Sponsored Updates product. The idea is to help companies produce more relevant content by sending personalized messages to specific audiences, according to Ashvin Kannan, senior director of engineering within LinkedIn’s marketing services department. “It gives [companies] the ability to test and retest a variety of content in real-time until they get it right,” Kannan explained in a Thursday blog post. “Doing so allows for enhanced performance.” Direct Sponsored Content also lifts limitations on who can and cannot post in the feed. “Because content doesn’t have to start on the Company Page, different business units can try content specific for their audience with the Company Page administrator’s approval,” Kannan explained. Comcast Business and NewsCred are among some dozen companies participating in the pilot, according to Kannan. Launched a year ago, Linkedin’s Sponsored Updates now makes up 19% of the company’s Marketing Solutions revenue, according to internal figures. The in-stream ads -- which run across the desktop, smartphone and tablet -- encourage users to “follow” companies, as well as “Like,” “Comment" and “Share” sponsored posts within their own networks. The ad content can take the form of an article, blog post, video or presentation. Expanding its Sponsored Updates business is a no-brainer for LinkedIn, which has seen social leaders like Facebook and Twitter do well with similar services. Indeed, thanks to the success of Facebook’s News Feed ads and Twitter’s Promoted Tweets, BIA/Kelsey recently predicted that native social advertising will eclipse social display for the first time by 2015. Marking a big week for LinkedIn and its monetization efforts, the company just announced an agreement to buy Bizo, which focuses on business audience segments and marketing automation. LinkedIn said it plans to pay about $175 million for Bizo’s enterprise tools, which facilitate the measurement of display and social online advertising and audience segments.
IgnitionOne on Thursday released an update to its Digital Marketing Suite, DMS Analytics, that uses an algorithmic, color-coded schematic to show brands on a computer screen the areas in which they need to focus to improve campaign performance. Essentially, IgnitionOne rebuilt its analytics platform from the ground up to improve workflow and flexibility in how marketers can slice the data and see the most relevant numbers rise to the top, MediaPost Search Marketing Daily hears.The revamp increases reporting speeds by more than 50% and gives them other ways to arrange and analyze marketing and advertising data required to track and optimize efforts. These intuitive features allow marketers see the changes to easily identify important trends and data points to make quick decisions. "Upping our game," IgnitionOne President Roger Barnette calls it. He believes the latest updates "leapfrog" other platforms by bringing brand and agency marketers a visual representation of the numbers. Barnette said the online marketing and advertising industry lacks simplicity when it comes to platforms. Marketers are overwhelmed with data, with technology, and with ways to reach customers. Overall, there are few ways to connect the dots -- to ensure the correct message gets delivered and to really understand the entire lifecycle of consumers, he explains. "The relationship doesn't end at a click or a conversion," he said. "If data is centralized and the insights are delivered simply to marketers, they can do amazing things. That is what IgnitionOne is offering." The User Engagement Score Algorithm sits at the core of the DMS platform. It determines the value of a user before automating the delivery of the correct marketing message on and off the brand's, retailer's or service company's Web site. Today, IgnitionOne scores more than 300 million users monthly in 75 countries and powers more than $30 billion in revenue each year for General Motors, CenturyLink, Bridgestone, La Quinta and Fiat, 360i, GroupM and iProspect, among others. Search Marketing Daily hears that the company generates revenue of about $100 million annually from a 60/40 direct/agency split. The features in DMS Analytics released Thursday are part of an overall strategy for IngitionOne. "We have our focus on continuing to simplify marketing technology, including media mix modeling and fully integrating user data management across all channels, while continuing to push the envelope across the optimization of each channel," Barnette said, adding that marketers should expect to see development at IgnitionOne in mobile and cross-device tracking.
Sprint plans to offer Google Apps for Business services in a move that puts the telecom company in partnership to support cloud-based apps and tools like Gmail, Calendar, Docs and Drive for enterprise clients beginning in August. While Google has many partners in the program, the partnership with Sprint marks the first with a major U.S. wireless carrier. The deal through the Google Apps Reseller Program gives Google more access to business customers who want to access apps in the cloud. For Sprint, the partnership provides a way to offer businesses cloud-based services -- something Google has been focusing on building for years. Sprint will not require businesses to have wireless service or device contracts with the purchase of the Google Apps suite. Cloud-based computing will give business customers access to a variety of mobile tools for diversified work styles in the workplace, explains Mike Fitz, vice president of business solution commercialization, Sprint Business. Cloud computing for businesses may seem more convenient, but securing data remains one of the major concerns among businesses when it comes to businesses using mobile apps, especially when the device belongs to the employee and not the employer. The Information Security Community on LinkedIn, and Vectra Networks, which offers real-time detection of in-progress cyber-attacks, released results from their second annual "BYOD & Mobile Security Study" highlighting mobile security in 2014. The study, which polls 1,100 IT security experts, found that nearly half of respondents agree users bringing downloaded apps or content with embedded security exploits into their organization, as well as malware, are top security concerns. Some 60% said malware protection is a requirement for mobile security. Some 74% are concerned with protecting sensitive data and intellectual property; 69%, customer/employee data; and 66%, documents."Businessman With Smartphone" photo from Shutterstock.
Crosswise dug into the data to build and release Thursday a cross-device identification platform relying on statistical models and first-party data to improve ad targeting and measurement across devices. The platform analyzes data and uses machine learning and proprietary algorithms to support ads driven through demand-side platforms, data management platforms, agency trading desks, affiliate marketers, analytics companies and attribution providers. The technology links Internet-enabled devices to one user without tapping into personally identifiable information. Brands can use the information for a variety of business models across devices, including audience extension, targeting, frequency capping, sequencing, measurement and attribution. Crosswise collects billions of non-personally identifiable data points like location data, domains browsed, apps used, age, gender, WiFi hotspots, shared ISPs, and many others. The company's scientists analyze the data and look for patterns to determine if specific phones, tablets and PCs are owned by the same person. "To train and validate these statistical models, we have access to a massive set of deterministic data based on user login data," explains Steve Glanz, CEO and co-founder of Crosswise. "We've partnered with several companies to obtain the data for tens of millions of devices, so we know for sure that a specific phone and PC are owned by the same person. That data is critical for training and validating our statistical models." To ensure the quality of the data, Crosswise offers brands a quality score based on the first party data in the deterministic data set. The technology aims to solve the mishaps of cross-device identification. Marketers recognize that consumers browse and complete transactions on multiple devices. In an industry built on making decisions based on data, lack of understanding around cross-device identity can lead to making bad decisions and inaccurate results. Glanz said that even the most basic functions of frequency capping and sequencing become impossible when running a campaign on multiple devices without knowing how those devices tie back to an actual person. It also can fix another broken model -- attribution -- because the technology helps marketers understand how to follow consumers who click on a PC ad and then convert three hours later on a tablet.
Online auction and fixed-price transaction company eBay has added WPP's MediaCom and Omnicom's Goodby Silverstein to its global roster of agencies, the company has confirmed. MediaCom will handle global media duties and Goodby will do creative work. The client spends an estimated $300 million on ads worldwide, with more than half the total earmarked for U.S. expenditures. The move comes as the auction/transactions firm continues to reel from a security breach disclosed in May. The company has vowed to boost marketing efforts in a bid to regain consumer trust. The company has stressed that no consumer financial data was compromised, but urged eBay members to reset passwords as a precaution. More than 80% of eBay users have done so, and company executives have acknowledged that member activity on the eBay site has dropped substantially since the breach was disclosed. Further fallout from the breach emerged Wednesday when the company was slapped with a proposed class-action lawsuit filed by Louisiana resident Collin Green. “The injuries to the class members flow from a common nucleus of operative facts,” the suit stated. “eBay collected personal information it knew was highly valuable to thieves, and took inadequate steps to protect that information, in breach of its obligations and the laws of 47 states and the United States. The information was stolen, and eBay waited an unreasonably long time to either detect or report the theft to its customers. The failure damaged each customer as each will, at a minimum, incur significant identity protection costs and concerns.” The suit seeks compensatory and consequential damages and other costs. For MediaCom, the new assignment is a huge new piece of business from the client. It was recently appointed media AOR for eBay in the Europe Middle East and Africa region, where ad spending exceeds $100 million. Confirming the awards, eBay issued a statement: "Today, eBay is a dynamic shopping destination that connects people to the things they need and love - whenever, wherever and however they choose. As our brand evolves, we're constantly looking for new ways to inspire and engage our buyers and sellers around the world. We have recently engaged Goodby Silverstein and Partners and Mediacom as our agency partners to help us explore how to continue telling the story of eBay."
The benefits that come with leveraging cross-device identity for advertising are well known. Cross-device campaigns lead to better targeting, stronger campaign metrics, and higher return on ad spend for advertisers, plus better user experiences, higher engagement, and more value from users as they move across screens. But even with the knowledge of these benefits, many publishers haven’t fully embraced cross-device data. When publishers don’t have insights about their users, they struggle to maximize the value of their mobile and desktop inventory. Ultimately, publishers need to follow a three-step path for cross-device success: 1. Understand where the challenges are. Publishers typically face three challenges in an increasingly cross-device world. First, they don’t know who their audience is. Many publishers have added cookies or login systems to learn about users, but even in those cases, they know very little about users’ interests and preferences, and it’s difficult to find those users outside of a single platform, not to mention across devices. The second challenge is that publishers want to empower their sales teams to establish more direct relationships with advertisers to command more value for their audiences, versus devaluing inventory through a marketplace. However, the “do it yourself” approach is often not possible for anyone but the largest publishers. A third common challenge: Marketers are moving ad spend to mobile and want cross-device data for targeting, given that Google reports that 90% of multiple-device owners use screens sequentially to complete online tasks. Though this trend of increasing mobile spend may not necessarily be a burden for publishers with mobile inventory, the issue is that marketers are expecting high return on their mobile spend, which publishers cannot necessarily guarantee due to limited mobile data. 2. Learn how to solve those challenges. By selecting the right partners, publishers can easily make their data work for them. Many publishers already use data management platforms (DMPs), which help profile users on silo’d platforms, either desktop or mobile. But DMPs can’t necessarily match users across screens. That’s where device matching comes into play. There are several companies that have built cross-device pairing technology utilizing either deterministic or probabilistic device-matching, the two most common ways to solve for cross-device identity. The deterministic approach is person-based identification that involves collecting personal data, and using that data to connect users across devices, typically through a login system. The probabilistic device-pairing method uses accessible data, from ad requests, for example, to make predictions about users. 3. Leverage cross-device data to add value. The most important value-add of cross-device data is that it enables publishers to participate in audience extension. Whether using first-party audience segments, advertisers’ audience segments, or third-party DMP audience segments, the ability to leverage audience data to reach desktop users on their mobile devices makes any publisher a valued partner for advertisers. Once publishers are able to offer cross-device data and retargeting abilities, they can offer their advertisers even deeper features, such as cross-device frequency capping, storyboarding and sequential messaging. Ultimately, the sophisticated use of cross-device audience data leads to more value for everyone involved. Publishers can command higher prices because their inventory is more valuable, advertisers can run more effective campaigns, and users are provided with more relevant messaging.
Programmatic buying has become one of the most popular buzzwords in our industry, and as I said a few months back, it’s often used as a catchall phrase or used interchangeably with the term “real-time bidding.” Since then, there’s been much talk about the evolution of programmatic marketing. The Wall Street Journal recently reportedthat top publishers are now getting in the game and selling home page ads, with confidence, through programmatic channels. Time Inc., Hearst Corporation, Business Insider and others are all on board because the current set of tools available allow for pricing control, circumventing the fear that prices could tumble via a programmatic exchange. In addition, media buying firms and major brands like Procter & Gamble are also looking to buy a majority of online ads programmatically, proving that the wave is unstoppable. Despite the momentum from many major players in the marketing space, recent research by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and Forrester Consulting found that more than half of the marketers surveyed didn’t understand programmatic well enough to buy and execute campaigns with it. Further, just one-quarter of U.S. client-side marketers understand and are using programmatic technology. Although the world of data and real-time buying may seem overly complex, programmatic marketing actually simplifies our lives more than we think. The fact that we can serve up an ad based on the end user’s behaviors and attributes in 120 milliseconds wherever they are is truly impressive and creates engagements that we may never have thought possible. Instead of focusing on the complexities, we should be looking at the ways programmatic simplifies our lives. With programmatic advertising, technology and data do a majority of the work, which enables the digital medium to reach audiences at massive scale. The automated process also creates efficiencies across buying media, from identifying the right audience to purchasing and delivering the actual ad. While some have expressed concern over the changing of the guard from humans to robots, the rise of programmatic doesn't mean replacing the human element altogether. Instead, the main objective is to make advertising more efficient, relevant and scalable in a world that is quickly adapting to digital technology. It focuses on eliminating time spent on processes that can be automated, and driven by data. The rise of data is a key component to creating and running successful ad campaigns from buying to optimization. Site and search retargeting are common practices for programmatic marketing, which allows marketers to rely on algorithms to decide which audience to buy, what messages to show and even when to reach them. All of this is done by combining massive amounts of data elements -- from site behaviors to purchasing patterns -- and then using rules-based logic to make the best decision for your brand. This machine-to-machine process streamlines communication and implementation, creating great efficiencies and ultimately saving on costs. Without programmatic solutions, marketers would have a hard time keeping up with the digital landscape and satisfying customers. Instead of looking at programmatic as the complex system for advertising, we should be thinking of it as the tool that simplifies our marketing campaigns and enables brands to take full advantage of what the digital medium has to offer.